Accounting system.



E. G. ALBREE. ACCOUNTING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1906.

902,544. Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. 129: X .0 w

295526649569.- Ivy/676%) E. G. ALBREE.

ACCOUNTING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED r123. 28, 1906.

Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

p T 0v all whom it may concern: I

tory in keeping the cost accounting system,

into operation and to maintain.

EDWARD o. ALBREE, or SWAMPSCOTT,

MASSACHUSETTS.

ACCOUNTING SYSTEI.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

I Patented Nov. 3, 1-908.

Application filed February 28, 1906. Serial No. 303,418.

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. ALBREE, a citizen of the Uni-ted States, residing .at Swampscott, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Accounting Systems, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

n factories and sinnlar places, it is frequently desirable to know exactly what is the cost of the labor and material which go to make up the cost of the various articles produced. In such .cases, it is desirable that the results required be accurate and be obtained as quickly as possible and with the least possible expenditure of labor. Such systems are denominated cost accounting systems, and are frequently very com licated and expensive to maintain, especially where the factory is a large one. Many persons are frequently employed in a large facand this labor is entirely .unproductiie, that is, it does not contribute directly toward the production of the goods. It is, therefore, desirable that such systems be as simple as is consistent vvith obtaining the required results order that the expense may be as small as possible. It is also desirable that the Workman have as little to do with the system as possible, because workmen are frequently illiterate or slow to comprehend and perform their part of an accounting system.

My invention has for its object to produce a cost accounting system which may be adapted to all kinds of factories and similar places and which will be inexpensive to put My system has the advantage that it may be used with equal success ere-n when the workmen are illiterate, because the Workman is not required to read or Write anything. It, also has the advantage that no mental operation is required to be performed in making the entries upon the cards comprising my system other than that of finding and marking the proper place and punching or marking the cards simultaneously at this point, the total being thereby determined and entered upon the cards Without further mental or physical operation. I

When my system is employed, there can be no discrepancy between the total amount paid the workmen and the amount charged to the various jobs for labor, because the 'workmans pay depends directly upon the mount which has been charged for labor to the various jobs upon which the workman has been employed. The same is also true of the materia s used. I

' In the accompanying specification, 1 have described my invention in the form in which it may housed in a factory, but it may be used with equal success in Warehouses, stores and many other similar places by slight adaptations such as may be made by any person skilled in the art.

My invention has a wide range of usefulness which I will not describe 'further here.

In this specification I have described a number of special features which I believe to be patent-able and which I intend to makethe subject matter of subsequent applications.

In the following specification, I have described my invention as embodied in properly divided and printed cards which are superposed and punched to record the desired data, but the invention is also capable of embodiment in other forms such for instance as that in which detachable coupons are employed. I do however prefer the form described in this application, as this form is more convenient to use and is not affected by certain mechanical limitations which are imposed upon other embodiments by their structure. Both systems embody my invention which is, I believe, capable of other and further n'iodification.

My system depends largely for its success upon' the fact that it is substantially a double-entry system, each charge or entry appearing in two or more places which serves to check both entries and insures accuracy. This result is accomplished by the employment of cards in pairs which are punched simultaneously. One of the cards of the pair, I call for convenience the primary card. It may be in different forms according to the kind of information which it is intended to record as for instance Workmens time cards, piece Work cards, and material cards. The other card-of the pair is called the secondary or record card, and also may be in various forms of which the job card is that most commonly used. Either or both of the cards of the pair of cards may be duplicated, the duplicates being punched simultaneously but I have not thought it necessary to show these.

lil

The primary cards form the vouchers for the workmans pay andfor the materials re uired, and the secondary cards show the c arges which are made to'the various jobs.

As the entries upon the primary and second-f charged to the various j o s upon which it has been expended.

The cards employed in my improved system may be of different sizes, although it is convenient to have them uniform in size, but each card is ruled or divided into spaces which are multiples of a unit s ace which is uniform in size in all the car s comprising the system. The spaces on the cards are arranged in columns of e ual height, and this equality of height of all t 6 columns of spaces is thought to be essential to the best working of the system where punch marks are employed' to designate particular points upon the cards.

The invention also includes the method of determining and recording amounts upon the cards.

The invention will be readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accom anying drawings, and the novel features tliereof are pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the close of the specification.

In the drawings,Figure 1 shows the face of a workmans time card for a workman receiving $.05 per hour. Fig. 2 shows the back face of the card shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a workmans time card for a workman receiving $.02% per hour. Fig. 4shows aworkmans piece-work card. Fig. 5 shows a material card. Fig. 6 is a view of a job card. Fig. 7 shows the card A superposed on the card I in position for punching as described. Fig. 8 shows the card A superosed upon the card I with the punch-mark in registration with the first unit spaceof the card I. Fig. 9 is a view of a workmans card provided with a subtraction dot. 10 shows a subtraction card. Fig. 11 shows the subtraction card Q superposed upon the workman s time card P, in posltlon for punching.

In the following description of my invention and the operation thereof, I will describe the same as applied to a factory in which work begins at seven oclock and continues until six oclock with an intermission of one hour from twelve to one oclock. vSome of the workmen are aid by the hour and others by the 'piece. l will take up first the primary card in its various forms, and then the secondary or record cards.

Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a workmans time card A to be used by a workman paid by the hour, who recelves $.05 per hour. The card is divided into of five by heavier division lines.

is a multiple of five.

Fig.

arranged in columns of fifty spaces each,

the said 00111111118 being of equal height and width. For convenience in reckoning, the unit spaces B are further divided into groups Every unit space B represents a value of one cent, and this standard of value is uniform throughout all the cards which are employed together. The unit spaces B are commonly based upon some standard of monetary value as for nstance in this case 11 on the'cent. Under these circumstances t ey may be called money unit spaces, but in certain cases the unit may be some other concrete thin as for instance pairs in a shoe facto Thls change in the standard of value an in the name of the spaces does not afiect the substance or operation of the invention. The card A is prov1ded with sufficient spaces to keep the record of a weeks work upon. It will be seen that the card is somewhat wider than is necessary to provide space for one weeks work by a workman receiving five cents per hour. This waste. space may be employed when the rate of pay is greater.-

ceives, are placed letters and figures C indieating the days of the week and the working hours of each day. For convenience of descri tion, these letters and figures 'C are herea ter termed "hour numerals. On the card A shown in Fig. 1, M is placed in the fifth space from the bottom of the card in the right hand column; M in the tenth space; and so on, the proper hour numeral being laced in each space whose number counting om the lower right hand corner of the card Should the workman receive some other sum, as for instance eight cents per hour, that sum becomes the number Whose multiples determine the location of the hour numerals. As Tuesday and Thursday begin with the same initial letter, I employ the arbitrary letters E and U in the spaces corresponding to those days to prevent confusion.

An example of another rate-of pay is to be found in Fig. 3, where a card D intended for use by a workman receiving two and one-half cents per hour is illustrated. In that case the hour numeral M is placed in the fifth space from the bottom, M in the tenth space, and-. so on. The inspector or other person to whom the card goes to be punched can readily estimate the intermediate dis tances, so 1t is not found necessa to put the intermediate hour numerals on t e card.

The back side of the card is div. led into spaces in exactly the same'manneras the front side, the said spaces on the front and back sides registering with each other, and the spaces on the back of the card are provided with numerals which indicate the total Fig. 1.

- upon the cards at every seventh value in money of the preceding "spaces. In Fig. 2 these numerals are shown at E. They begin at the lower left .hand side of the card A so that they may a ply properly to the spaces on the face of t e card which begin at the lower right hand corner, as seen in These numerals are located in the space next above the space to which each applies in order that theymay not be destroyed by the punch marks which are made upon the cards. These numerals are called for convenience total figures and form an arithmetic series, that is a series any term of which is obtained by adding a fixed amount to the preceding term. It is sometimes more convenient to have these total figures on the face instead of on the back of the card, in which case they are arranged as shown at F in Fig. 3 adjacent the proper division lines.

Primary cards for piece work, 4,. e. work where the workman is paid by the piece instead of by the hour, are arranged in a substantially similar manner except that the hour numerals are replaced by other numerals indicating the number of pieces which the workman has made, these numerals being applied to the cards according to the number of unit spaces represented by the price to be paid to the workman per piece or per hundred pieces. Such a card is shown in Fig. 4, the price being three and one-half cents per piece. In this case the numbers 2, 4, 6, etc., indicating the number of pieces, are placed space, this being a convenient manner Where a fractional amount per piece is paid. If it is not desired to have the card encumbered by so many figures, corresponding numbers may be put on at less frequent intervals. The back side of the piece work card G is provided with total figures exactly as are the workmans time cards, the roper total figure being applied to every fi th space as has already been described. I have not, therefore, thought it necessary to illustrate this in the drawings or to describe it further in the specification.

A third kind of primary card is used for keeping a record of the material which enters into the various jobs. In Fig. 5, such a card is shown. It is divided into unit spaces in the same manner as the other primary cards heretofore described. Groups of these unit spaces, are provided with figures in the same manner as are the workmans time cards and piece work cards. Thus, in the card shown in the figure which is intended to be used for material worth four cents per pound, the numeral 1 is applied to the fourth space .from the bottom, the numeral 2 to the eighth, etc.

Having described various forms of primary cards, I will now describe some of the secondary cards in connection with which the applied cards are employed. These are also called 30b cards when used for that specific purpose. The job card I, see Fig. 6, is di-' vided'into unit spaces, and total figures are thereto as previously described, but a space I is left at the bottom of the card for a purpose-to be described later, and a marginII one space in width is also left on the right hand side of the card.

A separate job card is employed forevery operation and lot of material, and upon it is kept the record of the labor performed by the various workmen or of the material which entersinto the production of the finished product.

When the workman enters the factory in the morning, if he is at work by the day, he receives a workmans time card, having an unpunched value equal to the maximum amount which he can earn in a week, and on reaching his station, receives from the foreman the job card for the obupon which he is to begin work. When he completes the work, for instance, at eleven oclock, he goes to the inspector, taking with him his time card and the job card. The inspector places the time card A upo'n the job card I with the lower right hand corner of the time card registering prima with the bottom line of the unit s aces, and then punches both cards when in t is position at M as shown at J in Fig. 1 and J in Fig. 6. He may also write upon the workmans time card near the hole which he has just punched the characters B which is the number of the job card which Was punched simultaneously with the workmans time card; and upon the job card adjacent the punch mark J the number 27, which is the number of the workmans card which was punched at the same time. The two cards then show that the workman No. 27, to whom the primary card belongs, has worked until eleven oclock on job 4513, and that in so doing he earned $.20, as seen by the total figures on the back of the card, see Fig. 2. Inspection of the ob card I shows that workman 27 has expended $.20 worth of time on this 0b. It willbe seen, therefore, that the amount of pay due the workman for this work has been figured out; that is to say,

four hours labor at $.05 an hour, making a total of $.20. These results are reached without any mental or physical operation other than that of placing the two cards togather in proper position and punching them at the time at which they are brought to the inspector, namely at eleven o'clock. Furthermore, this single operation has recorded upon both the primary and the secondary cards the same information, each forming a check on the other. The workman then starts on another job, viz.that represented by another job card. When his work on this job is completed, he again goes to the inspector who places the primary card on the l already earned, $5.65, and the card then shows secondary card with thelast punch mark J that his total earnings to this point have been $.85. There is shown on the card A of Fig. 1

two other punch marks N and O which show that this workman worked on (two more jobs during the week and at 6 p. m. Saturday had earned$3.00 having worked 60 hours at $.05 per hour.

As the o eration of the other primary cards is simi ar to what has already been described, I have not thought it necessary to describe them further in detail. I

Thus far in describing my accounting sys tem, the operations have been additions, that is to say, the amount which a workman has earned on one job has been added to the amount already earned and previously recorded upon the card. It is, however, frequently desirable to be able to make subtra'ctions from the amounts already recorded on the cards. My s stem affords means by which this may be dime with the same case and convenience as the additions previously described are made. If a workman has been sick or absent from the factory for anyreason, it is convenient to make sucha subtraction. As has been previously stated, the last punch mark on the workmans card indicates at the end of the week the amount of pay which he is to receive, and to indicateto the cashier or-audi'torthe total amount of money to be paid to a workman for the work recorded on is time card I find it convenient to indicate this point by a punch mark of special design. The spaces before this special punch mark may be said to be active .or used spaces, that is the cashier will pay the workman the amount of money represented by the used spaces. The spaces .after the mark may be called unused or inactive spaces.

For convenience in subtracting amounts from a workmans card, as for instance for sickness or absence from the factory, I place a mark which for convenience I call a subtraction dot in the s ace next above the last space of those whic would be used by the workman if he were at the factory the entire Week. The process of performing the subtraction is as follows :When the workman returns to work, after being absent for any reason, he takes his workmans card P, see Fig. 9, to the inspector who superposes it upon a card Q called a subtraction card, such as is shown in Fig. 10, with the last punch mark R (the workman having already earned $1 .35

as shown on the card?) on the mar inal space I. The inspector then punches ot-h cards at the hour on which the workman has come to him, as for instance as S and S on the cards P and Q respectively. The subtraction card Q then shows the man has lost the sum indicated by the total figure by being absent. In the drawings, this amount is $.65. It is necessary that this amount be deducted from the primary card as otherwise the workman would be overpaid at the end the two cards in proper position more read-.

ily. The inspector then punches the first unit space B on both cards, this punch mark showing at T on card P and T on card Q. In practice I make this punch mark T ofa peculiar shape, so that it may be readily distinguishable from other punch marks on the card. This mark serves to indicate that no.

payments are to be made in excess of the total figure below this punch mark.

If it is desired to make a second subtraction from the-card, it may be made in the same manner as that in which additions to the card are made. I will not, therefore, describe it further.

The subtraction cards which I have just described are a form of secondary card and upon them is kept the duplicate record of subtractions corresponding with the subtractions which have been made on the workmans time or primary cards. The subtraction cards go to the treasurer and become his voucher for this amount of money which is not paid to the men, to help balance the envelops which are charged to him at full face value without any deductions.

What I claimis;

1'. In an accounting system and in combiters of the said s aces on the primary card, said spaces being a so provided with numerals, each of which is a multiple of the number of.

the space to which it is applied, the number of said space being counted from a predetermined point along a predetermined path, which point and path re ister with the first mentioned point and path- 2. In an accounting system and in combislips similarly provided with spaces whose centers are adapted to register with the centers of the spaces on the first mentioned card and having a set of numerals for the said spaces, each of which is a multi le of the number of the space to which it 1s applied, thenumber of said space being counted from a predetermined starting point-along a predetermined pathwhich register with the first mentioned point and path, the spaces onall the cards comprising the system being arranged in columns of equal height, and punch marks by which a point on each of two dor more cards is simultaneously indicate 3.. An accounting system comprising cards of different kinds, someof which are proin presence of two witnesses.

vided with consecutively numbered unit spaces of are provided with spaces-which are in size multiples of the said unit spaces and are provided with numerals such as are commonly used to denote the hours of the working day,

(provided with ,spaceS other, one or moreother cards or which uniform size, and others of which all thespaces on any card being the same size and arranged in columns of equal height. 4. In an accounting system and in combination, a primary card having spaces arranged in a pluralit of columns of equal height, furnished wit numerals, such asare commonly used working day, said numerals beginning at a predetermined starting oint and following a predetermined path, t e centers of said spaces along the said path being equidistant from each other, and a secondary card having spaces similarly arranged whose centers are ada ted to register with the'centers of the sai spaces on the primary card,'said spaces being also provided with numerals, each of which is a, multiple of the number of the space to which it is applied, the number of said space being counted from a predetermined point along a predetermined path, point and pat register with the first mentioned point and path.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature,

EDWARD c. ALBREE.

to denote the hours of the 

